Today’s British news is dominated by Donald Trump narrowly escaped with his life after an attempted assassination at his rally in Pennsylvania. Images of the aftermath show Trump being escorted away with a bloodied ear, as one spectator was killed and two others are in critical condition. Secret service agents shot and killed the gunman, whom the FBI has identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks.
On Sky News this morning, journalist Tom Newton Dunn, who was present at the rally, gave his account to Trevor Phillips. Newton Dunn said that it took a few seconds before the crowd realised they were hearing high velocity rounds, and ‘that’s when the terror struck in’. He described a lot of anger after the incident, with some men ‘blaming Joe Biden, blaming CNN’.
Lucy Powell: ‘This is a horrific incident which we condemn completely’
On the BBC, Leader of the House of Commons Lucy Powell told Kuenssberg that ‘the thoughts of the British government are with the American people and President Trump’s family’. Asked about the increasing polarisation of politics, Powell referenced the murders of Jo Cox and Sir David Amess and said that the UK had introduced ‘necessary improvements to the security of MPs’. Powell also mentioned other concerns like the intimidation of candidates and the use of deep fakes and disinformation, but said that the most recent UK election had also shown ‘the best of our democracy’, with people voting ‘for change’.
Farage claims ‘nasty’ narrative in media encourages political violence
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage told Laura Kuenssberg he was ‘upset’ at the news, but ‘not shocked’. He said that he had faced attacks against himself ‘for over a decade’, but ‘no one cares’ because of who he is. Farage suggested that the mainstream media landscape is ‘very one-sided’, and that ‘liberal intolerance’ leads to instances of political violence.
Pollster Frank Luntz says assassination attempt may be decisive in US election
Speaking to Kuenssberg, pollster Frank Luntz said that Saturday’s events would cement in people’s minds that democracy is ‘under serious threat’. Luntz claimed that the assassination attempt would not affect who people vote for, but would impact the likelihood of people actually going out to vote. He suggested this could lead to ‘an additional 1 or 2 percent to Trump’s vote’, especially in the crucial state of Pennsylvania, where the assassination attempt took place. Luntz said he was worried about the future of democracy, and that politicians needed to ‘stand up and say “enough”’.
Samuel Kasumu: ‘America has an absolutely bonkers situation when it comes to guns’
Lastly, former advisor to Boris Johnson Samuel Kasumu pointed out that bullets can be bought from supermarket vending machines in some states, and that four presidents have already been assassinated in US history. Kasumu said he struggled to see how America could ‘get through this in a way that makes sense’, and he wasn’t hopeful that the US would have the ‘serious conversations’ about gun control it needed to have.
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